Packer urges Red Roses to embrace tougher tests after Canada draw ends 39-match winning run

Marlie Packer has called on the Red Roses to embrace a new era of tougher international competition, insisting England’s 26-26 draw with Canada at Sandy Park — which ended a 39-match winning run — was exactly the kind of contest the women’s game needs.

The 36-year-old flanker, the most-capped member of John Mitchell’s current squad, was measured in her response to the result in the WXV Global Series opener. “We’re not happy with the draw, but we didn’t lose a match, and it was a really great game of rugby,” she said. “If you’re a neutral watching that game, that’s the kind of rugby that you want to come and watch. You don’t know who’s going to win, there was end-to-end scoring and it was such a physical game.”

With two away legs still to come in the series against Canada, Packer acknowledged there is work to do. “That’s our first game and now we’ve got two away legs, so when we come to play them in Canada in a few weeks’ time, we know what we’ve got to put right and what our mindset has got to be.”

For now, though, attention has shifted to New Zealand and a home fixture at Allianz Stadium — a ground that has just had its pitch relaid, meaning the Red Roses will be the first side to play on it. “The pitch is insane. It’s brand-new. No one’s played on it before and the Red Roses get the first run out on that. That’s pretty special in itself,” Packer said.

She added that facing the Haka holds particular significance for several players in the squad who have never experienced it before. “How many people do you know that get to face the Haka? We’re all looking forward to it in our own different ways, but collectively as a group, we want to go and put a performance and showcase what we’re about as the Red Roses.”

Packer’s broader message was one of ambition rather than comfort. Having watched the women’s game transform over her career, she wants England’s high standards to pull the rest of the world upward rather than allow the Red Roses to coast.

“We want the bar to keep raising,” she said. “The Red Roses are always pushing that bar higher and then it’s for the other teams that are under to raise their game. That’s exactly what’s happening and that’s what we want. We don’t want to turn up and have to have targets within games because we know we’re going to win. We want to be in a rugby contest.”

With Australia set to host the Women’s Rugby World Cup in 2029, Packer believes the global competitive landscape will only continue to sharpen — a prospect she clearly relishes rather than fears.